A federal judge in Houston dealt a major blow Friday to the City of Pasadena in a closely watched voting rights case, ruling that officials deliberately diluted the clout of Hispanic voters by revising the system for electing City Council members.

Chief U.S. District Judge Lee H. Rosenthal ordered Pasadena to revert to its previous use of single-member districts for the upcoming May elections and ruled the city would need pre-clearance from the Department of Justice for any future changes.

"In Pasadena, Texas, Latino voters ... do not have the same right to vote as their Anglo neighbors," Rosenthal concluded in the 113-page decision released late Friday.

Patricia Gonzales, one of the plaintiffs who filed the federal lawsuit, said fairness can be restored to the city election system.

"All right," she said, when informed of the ruling. "Now each section will be able to vote on who they want and their voices will be heard. I'm very pleased with the outcome."

The ruling could provide a key test of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in 2013 that gutted portions of the Voting Rights Act, legal experts said.

Alleged racial disparities

"It is a great win," said Michael Li, senior redistricting counsel at the Brennan Center. "This case shows that there is something you can do, at least if you have the facts, lawyers and resources."

The lawsuit was filed by the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund on behalf of a group of Latino voters, who said city leaders deliberately tried to quell the growing Hispanic vote by changing from eight to six single-member districts and adding two at-large positions elected citywide.

During a seven-day trial presented directly to Rosenthal without a jury, witnesses testified there are vast disparities in incomes and living conditions in the blue-collar city on the Houston Ship Channel.

The northern portion of the city, where the majority of Hispanics live, has poor drainage, broken sidewalks and streets in disrepair. The southern part of Pasadena, which is majority white, has better infrastructure and more improvement projects, witnesses said.

Rosenthal cited witness testimony in her opinion, noting that both Texas and Pasadena had histories of exclusionary practices and that discriminatory attitudes toward Latinos still endured among Pasadena residents.

In recent years, the political balance in Pasadena had begun to shift, the judge wrote. But just as Latino voters were poised to elect a majority of single-district representatives to the city council, longtime Mayor Johnny Isbell and his backers proposed changes to the election system, the judge said.

"In short, Pasadena's elections are racially polarized," Rosenthal wrote. "The City's 2013 racially polarized vote in favor of the 6–2 redistricting map and plan and the Council's 2014 vote to approve the change were narrowly decided. The effect was to dilute Latino voting strength. That effect was foreseeable and foreseen."

The city is likely to appeal the decision to the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court, but the ruling could have a significant impact nonetheless on the May elections. All city council seats and the mayor's post are up for election; Isbell is facing term limits and cannot seek re-election.

Ruling called a 'good step'

MALDEF attorneys called the ruling an important win for voting rights in communities such as Pasadena that were better protected under the Voting Rights Act prior to the Supreme Court's 2013 Shelby decision, which eliminated the requirement for preclearance by jurisdictions with a history of voting rights problems.

"The court's well-reasoned decision is a clear warning to other jurisdictions that might seek to limit Latino voting power by taking advantage of the Supreme Court's dismantling of the protections of preclearance in the notorious Shelby County case," said Thomas A. Saenz, MALDEF president and general counsel. "The decision is also a repudiation of those, including congressional leaders, who facilely assert that intentional vote discrimination no longer occurs and that the protections of preclearance are no longer needed."

C. Robert Heath, the lead attorney who represented Isbell and other city officials, said his team needed time to analyze the ruling.

"Certainly, I do think that the plan doesn't result in dilution of the Hispanic vote," he said. "As the evidence showed there were more Hispanics elected under the 6-2 plan than were ever elected under the 8-0 plan. ... But the judge obviously disagreed."

Isbell could not be reached for comment.

City Councilman Ornaldo Ybarra - who was a defendant in the suit as a city official but who supported the plaintiffs - said he always believed the lawsuit would prevail.

"Lots of time and energy was lost in addressing the city's crumbling infrastructure and we should transition back to an 8-0 system and begin addressing the needs of the taxpayers," he said.

Oscar Del Toro, who narrowly lost a 2015 bid for one of the newly created at-large council seats, called Friday's ruling a "good step."

Del Toro campaigned for increased Latino influence in Pasadena. He said the suit is a symbol of deeper problems in the city.